Katie Hopkins leaves Murdoch’s Sun, joins Mail Online

Provocative media personality Katie Hopkins is quitting her job as a columnist for Rupert Murdoch’s widest selling tabloid newspaper, the Sun, to take up a position with its rival the Mail Online.

Hopkins announced her decision on Thursday, saying: “I’m delighted to be joining the Mail Online. As the most successful newspaper website in the world, I can now write columns that immediately respond to the news of the day.”

“I’ve been tremendously impressed with Mail Online's digital footprint and I look forward to adding my voice to their ever-growing audience. It is truly a gift to be given this opportunity.”

Mail Online has an average of 13.7 million daily visitors, compared with the Sun’s paltry 1.3 million – the result of a recent spike since the site removed a content paywall in August.

Hopkins, a mother-of-three, is expected to start writing for Mail Online in November. Her last column for the Sun will be published on Friday.

Most recently Hopkins courted outrage with a column in which she compared refugees fleeing war-torn regions of the Middle East to “cockroaches.” More than 400 complaints were filed to press regulator Ipso in response to the column, and some 300,000 people signed a petition calling for Hopkins to be fired.

After catapulting into the public eye as a contestant on the Apprentice in 2007, Hopkins has made a name for herself by making innumerable incendiary statements in her column, as a television personality and on the radio.

In a documentary on TLC network, Hopkins deliberately gained more than forty pounds only to lose the weight in a matter of months, in an attempt to prove that being overweight is a lifestyle choice. She has said repeatedly that she employ a thin person over a fat one, because fat people give a “lazy” impression.

Talking about Hopkins’ recruitment, publisher and the chief editor of Mail Online Martin Clarke said: “At Mail Online we operate without fear or favor and this is something that Katie is known the world over for.

“Katie’s column is a must read for people across Britain and around the globe. Even if you don’t agree with what she says, she certainly knows how to engage and entertain an audience.”